• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.50-59
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• 2023

As the diversity of disasters continues to increase, the concept of "complex disasters" has gained prominence in various policies and studies related to disaster management. However, there has been a certain limitation in the availability of the systematic statistics or data in advancing policies and research initiatives related to complex disasters. This study aims to analyze the macro-level characteristics of the complex disasters that have occurred domestically utilizing a 30-year span of a news data. Initially, we categorize the complex disasters into the three types: "Natural disaster-Natural disaster", "Natural disaster-Social disaster", and "Social disaster-Social disaster". As a result, the "natural diaster-social disaster" type is the most prevalent. It is noted that "natual disaster-natural disaster" type has increased significantly in recent 10 years (2011-2020). In terms of specific disaster types, "Storm and Flood", "Collapse", "Traffic Accident", "National Infrastructure Paralysis", and "Fire⋅Explosion" occur the most in conjunction with other disasters in a complex manner. It has been observed that the types of disasters co-ocuuring with others have become more diverse over time. Parcicularly, in recent 10 years (2011-2020), in addition to the aforementioned five types, "Heat Wave", "Heavy Snowfall⋅Cold Wave", "Earthquake", "Chemical Accident", "Infectious Disease", "Forest Fire", "Air Pollution", "Drought", and "Landslide" have been notable for their frequent co-occurrence with other disasters. These findings through the statistical analysis of the complex disasters using long-term news data are expected to serve as crucial data for future policy development and research on complex disaster management.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.27-35
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• 2023

Social interest in disasters is a significant factor in shaping disaster management policies, enabling the enhancement of disaster safety management and prevention activities according to the specific needs of society. However, in the past, there were limits to measuring which disasters society was particularly interested in. Hence, in this study, a method of measuring social interest using news data was devised. Specifically, we classifed news reports into natural and social disasters, creating a comprehensive Social Interest Index (SII) on disasters covering from 2011 to 2021. Additionally, we quantitatively compared the SII with budgets allocated to disaster-related efforts. Our primary findings are as follows: First, our methodology not only distinguishes natural disasters from social disasters but also identifies emerging areas of societal concern. Second, in recent years (2014-2021), social disasters gained more attention than natural disasters. Third, the disaster safety budget accounted for approximately 3.5% of Korea's total budget, closely paralleling the SII we measured. However, exceptions were noted in cases such as heavy snow, cold waves, and heat waves, where the SII remained high, but the disaster safety budget was relatively low, indicating potential outliers. The findings of this research are projected to contribute to the improvement of national disaster management policies by providing a quantitative measure of social interest in disaster, enabling more informed and effective policy decisions.